10 Things to Consider Before Hiring a Marketing Agency for Your Business

This is a problem that plagues thousands of American business owners every year. They simply don’t have the time and energy it takes to market their companies while also running all the other various aspects of their businesses.

If you find yourself in this scenario at the moment, consider bringing a marketing firm on board to take care of all your marketing needs for you. They can help you build up your brand and increase your chances of achieving success.

Here are 10 things you should think about before hiring a marketing agency for your business.

1. How Experienced Is a Marketing Firm?

The first thing you should look for in any marketing firm is experience. You don’t want to work with a company that is still getting its feet wet as far as marketing is concerned.

When you start interviewing different firms to potentially market your business, ask them how long they’ve been around and how many clients they’ve worked with in the past. It’s a good idea to find a firm that has at least a few years under its belt.

2. How Big Is It?

There are some marketing agencies that are significantly smaller than that. They have just one or two employees who specialize in delivering marketing services to their clients.

Decide how large you need your marketing firm to be. Bigger isn’t always necessarily better. But you do want to make sure that the firm you hire has the manpower that it takes to provide you with quality customer service.

3. What Kinds of Services Does It Offer?

All marketing firms take a slightly different approach to providing marketing services.

Some of them spend most of their time beefing up the online reputations of the businesses they work with. Others focus more on marketing their clients through more traditional marketing strategies like sending out press releases to the media.

The marketing agency that you choose should be prepared to provide you with a slew of services. Ask them which services set them apart from their competition.

4. Can It Help You Achieve Your Specific Marketing Goals?

Maybe you want to drive more traffic to your website. Maybe you want to increase the number of sales you’re doing online. Or maybe you want to entice more of your customers to come in and visit your physical location.

Whatever the case may be, make sure a marketing agency can help you reach the goals you have in mind. It’s best to be upfront about your goals from the beginning so that there’s no confusion over what you want a marketing agency to do for you.

5. How Has It Helped Other Companies Like Yours?

A good marketing firm should be more than happy to show off some of the work they’ve done with other companies in the past.

Ask them if they’ve ever worked with a business like yours. If they have, tell them that you would like to see some of the things they did to market those businesses to the world.

This will give you a better idea of what marketing plan a firm might use to build your business up. Read more about how establishing a marketing plan will benefit your business moving forward.

6. Where Should You Start?

Every successful marketing campaign has to start somewhere. A marketing agency isn’t going to be able to successfully market your business overnight.

Where does the marketing firm that you want to work with think you should start? They might recommend:

Cutting down on the number of products you’re trying to market at once

And more

Great marketing firms can spot issues with the way a business is marketing itself from the start.

7. How Does It Go About Measuring Marketing Success?

A lot of businesses hire marketing firms to help them, launch big marketing campaigns, and then sit back and hope they’re successful. But they’re never provided with any real proof as far as whether or not a campaign worked.

Find out how the marketing agency you’re going to trust with your next campaign will measure success. You deserve to know if your marketing dollars are making a difference in the grand scheme of things.

8. Does It Communicate Well With You?

Communication is absolutely essential when it comes to working with marketing firms. You need a firm that will provide you with a point person who will stay in touch with you at all times.

If you struggle to get a hold of someone from a marketing firm by phone or email during your initial contact with them, they might not be the right firm for you.

9. How Much Will Its Marketing Services Cost?

Prior to reaching out to different marketing firms to inquire about their services, come up with a marketing budget for your business. Try to stick to that budget as best you can while speaking with marketing specialists.

Cost shouldn’t be your only concern when you’re hiring a marketing firm. But it should be something you keep in the back of your mind as you consider your options.

10. Does It Guarantee Results?

Just about all marketing firms will promise you results if you sign up for their services. But not all of them will stand behind the promises they make.

You want a firm that will guarantee you see results from your next marketing campaign within a certain period of time. Many firms will offer customers deeply discounted services or even money back if they aren’t able to hold up their end of the bargain.

Find the Marketing Firm That Is Best for Your Business Today

Hiring a marketing firm might just be one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make for your business.

If you hire the right firm, it could pay off in a big way by driving up sales. But if you hire the wrong one, it could set your business way back and force you to take drastic measures to improve your reputation in the future.

Read our blog to learn more about choosing the right marketing agency for your company.